


Draw me like one of your French girls, Cas

by randomdestielfangirl



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Barista Dean, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Meddling!Balthazar, Meet-Cute, Tumblr Prompt, Writer Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-22 07:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7425409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomdestielfangirl/pseuds/randomdestielfangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel is content to admire the gorgeous barista at The Wide Awake Café from afar. That is, until Balthazar interferes and Castiel puts his foot in it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Draw me like one of your French girls, Cas

**Author's Note:**

> I seem to be addicted to Coffee shop AUs. Not beta-read.

He’s sitting with his laptop in front of him on the rickety table, an empty word document open. No words come to him, and he stares at the blinking cursor in some despair. It’s an uncomfortably warm afternoon, and there’s hardly anyone in the café. Castiel takes a sip of his coffee and sighs, looking away from his laptop. He flushes slightly as Dean catches his eye from behind the counter and grins, the man’s green eyes flecked with spots of gold.

He hurriedly turns back to his laptop, and chews his lip in frustration. He really should go somewhere else to work, as all he ends up doing is casting longing glances at Dean whenever he’s here.

+

Castiel had stumbled into The Wide Awake Café on a rushed Monday morning nearly a month ago. He had overslept and forgotten his umbrella, and true to form, it had started to rain heavily. He had ended up racing across the green to reach the only shelter he could see, handwritten story notes in his backpack. It was a small, old-fashioned café, filled with the smells of good coffee and banana bread. There were vintage wooden chairs, a couple of worn armchairs with plump red cushions, and a large, comfortable looking sofa to side. Low hanging lamps glowed over tables, illuminating the red and gold geometric wallpaper flatteringly.

He hadn’t made a pretty sight as he entered, his clothes damp with the rain, the jeans flecked with mud, his hair completely wild. Throat parched with thirst, he had made a beeline for the counter for a well-deserved cup of coffee.

“What can I getcha?” a gruff voice asked as he fiddled with his backpack, too impatient to sit down before checking on his notes.

“Just a large coffee will do, thank you” he mutters, huffing in relief when he sees that they’re all dry.

“That’ll be two fifty”

He reached for his wallet and drew out the money, and promptly felt his heart threaten to jump out of his chest when he saw the barista.

The young man was about his age, with sandy brown hair and brilliant, leaf-green eyes. He was dressed in a plaid red shirt and jeans, with a green apron that complemented his eyes, and a name tag that said ‘Dean’. His hands were large and calloused looking as he took the money from Castiel’s suddenly limp fingers, and his beautiful, full lips curved into a smile as he told him to go and have a seat.

“Uh” he had said, with a great deal of eloquence, but had stumbled into an empty armchair nonetheless. His heart was pounding so much harder than when he was making a run for the café, and one look at Dean’s fine ass as he bent down told Castiel why.

He had started coming to the café almost every free day since.

+

He does mean to ask him out. When he gets the right opportunity, that is. Dean’s generally too busy for anything other than a smile; the café is almost always full. He’s just mustering up the courage to stand when the door bangs open and Balthazar walks in.

Castiel suppresses a groan as his friend spots him and swoops in with a loud “Cassie!”

“Balthazar” Castiel says morosely, as Dean looks curiously over at them both.

“Yes I know, you’re so excited to meet me, but calm down” Balthazar says, rolling his eyes.

Balthazar lives across him, and while he’s not throwing loud, raucous parties that go on till the wee hours of the night, he’s raiding Castiel’s kitchen. Still, he’s a good friend, and Castiel has precious few of those.

“Oh so that’s why you’ve been out of your dingy apartment lately. Have you asked him out yet, or have you just been staring at him moonily like a creepy flasher all these days?” Balthazar quips lightly, catching a glimpse of Dean.

Castiel feels his whole face heat up.

“I don’t know what-”

“He’s delicious Cassie; you always did have great taste. I’m tempted to ask him if you won’t”

“I’m not-”

“Hey there, Cas” Dean’s rough voice interrupts, and he smiles warmly at him “Can I get you two anything?”

Castiel feels the blood rush to his ears as he hurriedly slams his laptop shut.

“No. Thank you I was just leaving and-”

“But Cassie” Balthazar catches his wrist and pulls him, making him stumble “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your gorgeous friend?”

“I’m Dean” the barista says, saving Castiel the trouble of answering.

“Charming. I’m Balthazar, Cassie’s neighbor. A very concerned neighbor, I might say. He almost never used to leave his apartment before, claiming he needed to work in peace”

“I’ve been working here” Castiel interjects desperately, wanting to flee.

“Really?” Balthazar says, injecting that one word with a great deal of skepticism, “Because from what I see, all you’ve been doing is staring at this lovely young specimen. By the by, isn’t there something you wanted to ask him?”

Castiel wants to kill him. How was he going to explain away the voyeuristic staring?

“What do you do?” Dean says kindly, ignoring Balthazar and turning his warm green eyes to Castiel.

“I-” he’s panicking.

Balthazar has a wicked grin on his face as he sits back, watching Castiel’s red face.

“I uh, am an artist” he babbles, “I um, I thought you looked like a good model and uh- I wanted to ask, um- Sorry”

Dean stares at him, and for one second, Castiel thinks he sees disappointment on his face. Balthazar looks stumped for a beat, before breezily blustering ahead.

“That’s just perfect. Cassie here is a fantastic artist, but he’s always been too shy at approaching people to be his models. He pays really well, and it’s just a few hours of your time. What do you say, Dean?”

Castiel just gapes at him in dismay, while Dean hesitantly agrees. Balthazar writes down his address and phone number while he stands there, dazed, and gives him the slip.

“Evening today then?”

“My shift finishes at seven” Dean says, worrying his full lower lip with his teeth.

The door opens and two girls come in, prompting Dean to attend to them. Balthazar claps his shoulder and smirks at him, before jauntily waving goodbye and breezing out, leaving Castiel in the biggest mess he’s ever been in.

+

“WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT?” Castiel screams later at an unimpressed Balthazar.

“I was not the one who made up such a ridiculous lie, Cassie. Don’t blame this on me”

“I was going to ask him. I had a plan”

“Which was going just swimmingly I’m sure. I gave you the perfect opportunity, you were the one who put your foot in it”

Castiel deflates.

“What am I going to do?” he mourns, head in his hands.

Balthazar takes pity on him.

“Cheer up, Cassie. In fact, this is perfect. You get to leer at him to your heart's content. Just make a rough sketch of him and seduce him afterwards. By the time he gets your pretty lips over his dick I doubt he’ll care about your little white lie”

Castiel sniffs.

+

“I don’t have to take my clothes off or anything right?” Dean asks him nervously as he enters Castiel’s apartment.

“No. No” Castiel says, waving his hands around like an idiot, steering Dean in.

“Sorry, it’s just I’ve never done this before, and I kind of forgot to ask you about that before. I thought artists generally- I mean. I know I sound like an idiot”

“No” Castiel says again. He seems incapable to saying anything else.

Dean looks uncomfortable.  

“So uh- what should I do?” 

“Just” Castiel says, making him sit on his favorite red armchair.

“Just sit down? Is that okay?”

“Yes. I’m just sketching the uh- initial draft today” Castiel mumbles, sitting across him and grabbing an empty notebook and some pencils. He had only his writing pencils on him, and it had been too late to run out and buy anything else.

Castiel stares at his page helplessly, and begins to draw. He doesn’t have the slightest clue on how to go about this.

Dean looks around his apartment with interest while Castiel tries to valiantly sketch Dean’s head, but even after multiple attempts it looks like a wonky balloon.

“You have a lot of books” Dean says, breaking the silence.

“Yes, I’m a wri-” Castiel catches himself before he finishes, “Um. I like reading”

“That’s great. Who’re your favorite authors?” Dean asks him.

Normally this is the sort of question that would make Castiel talk volumes, but he’s too busy trying to not make Dean’s fingers look like misshapen pencils.

“Lots of them” he answers vaguely, chewing on the end of his pencil.

"My favorite author is Vonnegut" Dean says.

"Uh-huh" Cas responds tensely as he studies Dean again, not meeting his eyes.

Dean makes a few other remarks, but he's only half-listening to him and incredibly nervous, so he grunts a few monosyllabic replies. There's a heavy silence after Dean gives up, broken only by the _scritch scritch_ of his pencil.  

“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you” Dean says, prompting Castiel to look at him in alarm.

“No, you’re not, really. I’m sorry. I just-”

“Need to concentrate I suppose” Dean finishes for him. He looks unhappy.

Castiel nods, feeling his chances at ever asking Dean out evaporate with every awkward minute. He never should have lied. He never should have listened to Balthazar’s stupid advice. An uncomfortable half an hour crawls by before Castiel finishes, and puts his pencils away.

Dean stands up and stretches, smiling at Castiel when he nervously suggests a coffee.

He’s just about to turn away into the kitchen when he sees Dean reach for his book. And flip it open to the page with his drawing.

There’s a silence.

Castiel feels his heart sink right down to his shoes. Even someone who knows nothing about art can tell that that sketch was absolutely terrible.

“I’m sorry” he blurts, as Dean looks at him, his face frighteningly blank.

There’s a long pause before he hurries on. Best rip the bandage out fast.

“I’m a writer. I lied to you because I uh- I’ve been coming to the café because I wanted to ask you out and my friend was just trying to make me say it and I panicked and I lied and I’m just really, really sorry”

He’s just about to die of mortification when Dean begins to laugh. He drops the book and laughs long and loudly, tears of mirth rolling down his cheeks. Castiel stands there staring at him, confused.

“Oh god, Cas, you’ll be the death of me, I swear” Dean gasps after ten solid minutes of cackling, standing up and catching Castiel’s eye.

“I don’t-” Castiel begins, but is cut off by Dean striding towards him and kissing him firmly.

He sucks in a startled breath as Dean wraps his arms around him, his heart thundering in his ears. Dean pulls away after a minute, smiling gently at Castiel and squeezing him a little harder. Castiel blinks at him dazedly, his lips tingling from the kiss.

“You’re adorable” Dean says, his green eyes light with mischief.

“I’m really not” Castiel says, breaking the embrace to pick up the book. He’s about to tear the page with the sketch when Dean snatches it off him.

“I’m keeping that” he says, as Castiel tries to snatch it back.

“Dean, please, it’s so embarrassing”

“It’ll make a great visual to our story about how we met, don’t you think?” Dean says, cutting off his protests by grabbing him and kissing him again, so deeply that Castiel’s head begins to spin. They stumble into the armchair together, with Castiel in Dean’s lap.

“So” Dean says, a little later, panting against Castiel’s mouth, “Coffee sometime, me and you?”

“Yes”

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the prompt in [this](http://meetcuteproject.tumblr.com/post/136413252756/au-ideas) AU post
> 
> "You've been sketching me for half an hour now, and just shuffled up to hand me the finished product and it's TERRIBLE but you just wanted an excuse to talk to me"
> 
> I'm at tumblr [here](http://randomdestielfangirl.tumblr.com)! Come say hello! :)


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